For working professionals and students, free public WiFi makes it easy to get things done while on the go. When online, it\u2019s easy to think that your password protected email accounts are always kept safe from prying eyes. That isn\u2019t the case, however, if you are taking advantage of unsecured WiFi access.<\/p>\n
The reason that the public loves WiFi hotspots is the same reason that eavesdropping hackers love them too: no authentication. Without requiring authentication to establish a network connection, a hacker can easily get access to any unsecured devices using the same network.<\/p>\n
Read More: Mobile Malware is on the Rise \u2014 Find out Why<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n In short, the hacker works it out so that your information is sent directly to them. They then pass the information on \u2014 it doesn\u2019t head to the original connection point.<\/p>\n What Information Can a Hacker Steal? All of the information you send can then be used by a hacker whenever they want to use it. It could be that moment or it could be weeks later. He or she can then access whatever systems or programs you were using and pretend to be you.<\/p>\n What\u2019s worse, these unsecured networks can be used to send malware your way. If you are allowing file-sharing over the network, your computer can easily become infected. In fact, some hackers are even making the hotspot itself a piece of malware. These attacks typically offer an upgrade to some sort of popular software, but when you click the window, malware<\/a><\/strong> will be installed.<\/p>\n How To Prevent Eavesdropping Finally, install PSafe TOTAL Windows<\/a><\/strong> on your computer and PSafe TOTAL<\/a><\/strong> on your Android smartphone to keep your devices safe from malware and viruses. Don\u2019t access unsecured WiFi without them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Using unsecured public WiFi hotspots can result in hackers seeing far more about what you are doing, saying, and sharing than you likely thought possible. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":83,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[3308,3353,3487,249,2458,331,2604],"class_list":["post-5306","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-security","tag-hacker","tag-secure","tag-secure-network","tag-security","tag-wi-fi-security","tag-wi-fi","tag-wireless"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.psafe.com\/en\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5306","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.psafe.com\/en\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.psafe.com\/en\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.psafe.com\/en\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/83"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.psafe.com\/en\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5306"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.psafe.com\/en\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5306\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.psafe.com\/en\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5306"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.psafe.com\/en\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5306"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.psafe.com\/en\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5306"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n<\/strong>It turns out that a hacker can access a wealth of information over free, unsecured public WiFi.\u00a0 You are potentially sharing with an eavesdropper your passwords<\/strong>, emails, texts, credit card information, and whatever you are doing over the free internet hotspot.<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>You don\u2019t have to skip the public WiFi \u2014 just be smart about using it. Try to connect to public networks that have good passwords instead of unsecured WiFi, and don\u2019t browse through sensitive accounts like your online bank account while connected. If you don\u2019t need WiFi, don\u2019t automatically connect to it.<\/p>\n